Presenter Descriptions

Patricia Kelly, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Critical Studies at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver, Canada

Measuring Here and There,

or the Decentralization of American Art

When influential art critic and curator Lucy Lippard staged 955,000 in Vancouver, BC in January 1970, she was acknowledging the international aspirations and interconnectivity of much American conceptual art. Participating artists such as Robert Smithson, Douglas Huebler, and Sol LeWitt, had, by this time, well established practices concerned with mapping and relationality. Lippard's push towards decentralization signaled a broader desire among contemporary artists and critics to increase opportunities for sustained intellectual and creative inquiry, to understand art practice from a global (rather than regional) perspective, and to expand networks of like-minded artists across national borders in often unexpected and creative ways. Using this exhibition as a point of departure, this paper will explore the circulation of artists between the US and the West Coast of Canada in the late 60s and early 70s, and its potentially destabilizing effect on American art history.

Conversation with James Luna & Michael Hatt, Ph.D.

Dr. Hatt is Professor in the History of Art at the University of Warwick, England

Wang Dang Doodle Encounters, or Representing the Indian,

Then and Now

James Luna's practice has focused on cross-cultural, multicultural, and current cultural issues in contemporary American Indian society. He will present his most recent installation, which opened last month at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Luna will be joined by Michael Hatt to discuss his work in relation to art history, the representation of Native Americans in the past, and the ways in which that history is presented to the public.

Deborah Butterfield

Deborah Butterfield is a major American sculptor whose subject since the 1970s has been the horse. Butterfield earned an MFA from the University of California, Davis, and is the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, from such organizations as the National Endowment for the Arts. In this presentation, Butterfield will overview much of her career, from her college works to her current studio practice.

Derrick Cartwright, Ph.D.

Director of University Galleries and Professor of Practice, Art History at the University of San Diego

Proliferating Participation:

American Art Displays in Eras of Crisis

Contemporary American museum culture is fraught with challenges. In the face of weakening public support, institutions today claim that they seek audience engagement as a key to maintaining relevance and achieving sustainability. This talk explores the ways that "participation" has often been held up as a virtue by American art exhibitions past and present. From Robert Henri's 1915 exhibition of Modern American Painting at the Panama California Exposition to ambitious projects, like Behold, America!, the stakes of encouraging new participatory practices have at once evolved and grown more urgent across the United States.